[SOLVED] 2 vials - 4/17/07

[trainer101]

Every indication is that the Drop location has been figured out. All the clues are a perfect match - including the address.
As far as why KC? Why not? LG15 has a nationwide audience - that's what the PM is counting on. Hell, we retrieved a drop at Princeton just a few weeks ago - it took some doing but people stepped up. The same will happen in KC.

[ignatzmouse]

I may be on to something. I was reading this article and was trying to understand and apply that technique on our cipher. It looks quite promising.

OK, that's an impressive bit of work. Replaying what you did, I managed to recreate the message... Start with plain old Vigenere at http://rumkin.com/tools/cipher/vigenere.php, with the key and ciphertext set to be

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Sowehws Hipn - Aghfil Nxblq - Lj Tbmx Ac Qwdef - 8404← Vvzcj!

which (of course) decrypts to all As.

Now put our guessed final word "hurry" in as the last word in the key, so our next guess is:

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Sowehws Hipn - Aghfil Nxblq - Lj Tbmx Ac Qwdef - 8404← Hurry!

which decrypts to

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Aaaaaaa Aaaa - Aaaaaa Aaaaa - Aa Aaaa Aa Aaaaa - 8404← Obill!

So now we're looking for a key which goes "Obill ... Hurry". As you said, mess around with various possibilities for the ..., settling on "s", so the next guess at the key is:

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Sowehws Hipn - Aghfil Nxblq - Lj Tbmx Ao Bills - 8404← Hurry!

which decrypts to

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Aaaaaaa Aaaa - Aaaaaa Aaaaa - Aa Aaaa Ao Postn - 8404← Obill!

Now we're getting somewhere, the new bit of text is "o Postn", which we add to the key to get

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Sowehws Hipn - Aghfil Nxblq - Lo Post No Bills - 8404← Hurry!

and do another round of decrypting to get

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Aaaaaaa Aaaa - Aaaaaa Aaaaa - Av Enue No Postn - 8404← Obill!

Keep going, the next rounds are:

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Sowehws Hipn - Aghfil Venue - No Post No Bills - 8404← Hurry!
Sowehws Hipn - Stormy Venue - No Post No Bills - 8404← Hurry!
Sowehwn Town - Stormy Venue - No Post No Bills - 8404← Hurry!
Foutain Town - Stormy Venue - No Post No Bills - 8404← Hurry!

and using that last key to decrypt the ciphertext gives:

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Naclhof Outa - Intown Storm - Yv Enue No Postn - 8404← Obill!

so the first six letters "Naclho" must be the original key. Feed that into http://rumkin.com/tools/cipher/vigenere-autokey.php just to double-check, and hey presto!

Hmm, cryptanalysis is a lot easier once you know the answer.

ETA: Oops, missed a step.

[deagol]

Hmm, cryptanalysis is a lot easier once you know the answer.

Hey I would've gotten it all eventually. Not sure why I got it messed up on 'venue' (checking now) but I'm sure we could've gotten it. And no need for no keys! You can keep your useless vials, Zipp.
ETA: oh no, I was using Tmbx! gah!! Wow that was dumb, given I was the one who corrected it.

[Aja]

Deagol, you're a rockstar.

[marlasinger]

trainer - i didnt mean that the solution was a mistake, i meant the spelling of "fountain" - and here's hoping that you're right, someone will manup and get the drop.

[trainer101]

Oddly enough 'fountain' can be found misspelled all over the Internet as 'foutain' (okay, maybe not so odd)

[ignatzmouse]

Hmm, cryptanalysis is a lot easier once you know the answer.

Hey I would've gotten it all eventually.

Yes, I was kicking myself, not you! Vigenere autokey really does fall down quite dramatically if you can guess even a little bit of the plaintext. If you can guess an N letter word, and the key length is M, then this gets you (N/M)*P letters of the plaintext of length P. From that, you're quite likely to be able to guess the remaining M-N letters of plaintext required to decrypt the whole message (unless M is much bigger than N).

Not sure why I got it messed up on 'venue' (checking now) but I'm sure we could've gotten it. And no need for no keys! You can keep your useless vials, Zipp.
ETA: oh no, I was using Tmbx! gah!! Wow that was dumb, given I was the one who corrected it.

Oops!

[giddeanx]

It could be deliberately misspelled as if the N were important elsewhere. Like a fountain town with out an N. Or a typo. The Hurricane is the most likely canidate and just because we cant reach it doesn't make it sour.

As far as mistakes go Flauta is from KC maybe the dropper was counting on this not knowing of prior engagements.

I am at a point of just calling the place saying whats going on and seeing if they will put a stamp on it. But, that in itself maybe dangerous.

Has anyone tried people at unfiction.

[kellylen]

keep in mind we thought at first the drop wasnt at rue b.

[giddeanx]

If you find a place that fits all the clues better than this place then I am on board.

There are way too many arrows pointing to this location to ignore.

[TOSG]

There are way too many arrows pointing to this location to ignore.

Agreed. I'm pretty puzzled as to why so many people aren't sold.

[giddeanx]

There are way too many arrows pointing to this location to ignore.

Agreed. I'm pretty puzzled as to why so many people aren't sold.

They want it to be somewhere we can get it.

Anyway Flauta just said he would stop by after class.

[Killthesmiley]

So...I guess the key things to remember is No Post No Bills
..
maybe something about fish too?

[giddeanx]

Right someone thought that it might have to do with a mailbox. No "mail" post no bills or a post no bills sign or im thinking a absence of the sign like a place with a lot of bills (no "post no bills") where an envelope could be hid in the open.

Well it looks like they dont mind bills on thier windows.

[loobylou]

No post no bills suggests to me that there isn't a 'Post no bills' sign. So could that mean.......................

if there is a 'Post no bills' sign, it shouldn't be there, so give it some attention.